NJPW G1 Climax 2013 Day 2 Results and Review

Karl Anderson beat Shelton Benjamin with a cutter out of nowhere. This wasn't that good. Shelton Benjamin just stinks and he has to get his spots in no matter what. This was awkward at times and this was not a good idea.

02. G1 Climax - Block B: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Yujiro Takahashi

Yujiro Takahashi won with a moonsault, a botch, a slam and then another moonsault. As expected, this wasn't good and I didn't really like it. Tenzan tried but Yujiro is little more than a collection of moves at this point in-ring with little meaning to them. Kind of like a Shelton Benjamin.

03. G1 Climax - Block B: Yuji Nagata vs. Toru Yano

Yuji Nagata won with a backdrop. This was all Yano doing heel tactics and being funny about it while Nagata was doing over-exaggerated selling. No thanks.

04. G1 Climax - Block A: Prince Devitt vs. Lance Archer

Lance Archer won with the Blackout. I didn't like this one at all. Devitt broke the rules in front of the ref the whole time and there were tons of chairs and interference. Archer was okay face but I question him playing to the crowd then giving them the finger. I think this would have been good if the bs wasn't here.

05. G1 Climax - Block A: Satoshi Kojima vs. Katsuyori Shibata

Satoshi Kojima beat Katsuyori Shibata in a strong match with a lariat. This was great. Shibata just straight bulled Kojima for most of the match and really beat the crap out of him. He really kicked him hard and then sold well when it was his turn to take some abuse. Kojima hit some good lariats and ended up finishing him with one. This one is definitely worth a look. Rating:***1/2

06. G1 Climax - Block A: Togi Makabe vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr.

Davey Boy Smith Jr. beat Togi Makabe with a liger bomb. This was surprisingly good match. They had an old school heavyweight battle and what I really liked here was that they actually fought over holds and it took a few tries for them to hit some stuff. Both men came out of this looking really god, especially DBSJ who is really looking solid. Rating:***

07. G1 Climax - Block B: Tetsuya Naito vs. Kota Ibushi

Naito was wearing a Polvo de Estrella shirt. Polvo de Estrella is a transvestite wrestler in AAA.

Kota Ibushi beat Tetsuya Naito with a Phoenix Splash. This was a good match but Ibushi's lack of selling hurt it. Naito worked Kota's knee during the mid portion of the match and Ibushi completely no sold it afterwards. He jumped off the top twice and did other jumping moves, even though his knee should have been hurt bad. A shame too because this was a good effort by both, but had they worked any other body part, this would have been better. Rating:***

08. G1 Climax - Block B: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Minoru Suzuki

MOVE B****, get out the way

Minoru Suzuki beat Shinsuke Nakamura with a piledriver from out of nowhere. Good match, but not as good as it could have been. They did mostly MMA moves with chokes, armbars and leglocks. Nakamura had good facials and all of his offense was really well done. They had a small slap exchange that was good too. Near the end, Nakamura went for the armbar and Suzuki countered for the win. Rating:***1/4

09. G1 Climax - Block A: Hirooki Goto vs. Kazuchika Okada

Hirooki Goto beat Kazuchika Okada with the Shouten. Good match but it was too short. There was huge heat for this and Okada's selling was very very good. Both men looked good and it was nice to see Goto get a big win for a change. Okada screwed up the Red Ink again but saved it a bit and Goto did a top rope neckbreaker onto his knee on Okada, before hitting the Shouten to finish him off. Rating:***

10. G1 Climax - Block A: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Tomohiro Ishii beat Hiroshi Tanahashi with an SSD. Crazy match. Tons of heat and they stiffed each other. They really went all out here and put on an epic performance. Ishii looked on Tana's level and got the big win in front of a great crowd. The highlights here were the nasty headbutts, Ishii taking a Dragon Suplex on his head and lots of forearms. I really enjoyed this and hopefully this is Ishii's beginning to his main event run. Rating:****

Rankings:

Overall thoughts: Pretty great show with lots of good stuff up and down the card. The main event is must see and the last 4 matches or so are all really good. Check this one out.

3 comments
:

Actually, I'm pretty sure Naito wears the stuff with Polvo de Estrellas on it because it means Stardust, as in his finisher. Don't think there's any connection to the wrestler, as Naito worked CMLL when he was in Mexico.

I don't think that devitt broke any rules in his match here (from what I see in the pictures and gifs). while the chair is a foriegn object, but if you never directly use it and instead just run into it in the corner or hit someone with a move while he's holding a chair (like rob van dam's move where he throws the chair for you to hold and then kicks the chair and makes it connect with your face as a result), then it's fine.

also, lance archer is the kind of a badass face. kinda like asshole mr. anderson or the austin aries from last year as a world champ. or even cm punk a little (that fat guy in the crowd learned his lesson forever, eh ?). it's ok if he flips the bird for the crowd ...